Lightly Child, Lightly.

Posted on by Live & Learn

It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

— C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity (Tingle Books, May 17 2024) (via The Hammock Papers)

Notes:

  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.

20 thoughts on “Lightly Child, Lightly.”

  2. see my status pic – haven’t read you yet but it seems fitting enough! you have a good one too; i’m off to swim – although the little lake must be freezing cold after all those rains and temps drops of 20°C….

  3. The inner voice of ease and slower motion, is the stronger of the two? I wake with gratitude (namaste 🥴) and my ‘must and should’ voice cackles far louder and more insistent than the voice that encourages me to hold up and locate that smaller yet insistent voice. Sometimes I get it; more often I do not. But I tip my hat to Lewis who offer up the alternative. Have a great day, Dave – I need coffee…

  4. I like this post 🙂 I like words that feel like they are improving my health in some way.

    And I am moved to insert the following… No idea why… Just following my inner voice… When did you last pause and read the passage below?… I have not read it in a long time…

    —

    Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.

    —

    It might do me good to read that passage every day before I get out of bed. 🙂

    Hope you have a great day, Dave!

    2. Paul, I have the passage below written on so many flashcards inserted in every book, every purse, every drawer at home and at work. I have it engraved on a glass bottle. If I could, I would have it tattooed on my heart. And I want it on my headstone a long time from now. I want it to say, “She tried to live it Lightly.”

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